Bauman returns to work at Nashua Costco

By DEAN SHALHOUP

Staff Writer

NASHUA – News that Boston Marathon bombing victim Jeff Bauman returned to his job at the Nashua Costco this week took only hours to draw a remarkable deluge of nearly 12,000 “likes” on his Facebook page.

Or maybe the outpouring isn’t so remarkable, given Bauman’s lengthy, courageous battle to return to life as he knew it before the deadly blasts made him and his rescuers some of the bravest faces of the April 15, 2013, attack that killed three and injured hundreds. ...
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NASHUA – News that Boston Marathon bombing victim Jeff Bauman returned to his job at the Nashua Costco this week took only hours to draw a remarkable deluge of nearly 12,000 “likes” on his Facebook page.

Or maybe the outpouring isn’t so remarkable, given Bauman’s lengthy, courageous battle to return to life as he knew it before the deadly blasts made him and his rescuers some of the bravest faces of the April 15, 2013, attack that killed three and injured hundreds.

By Friday, “Jeff Bauman – Boston Strong, True Patriot and Hero,” the Facebook page created two days after the bombings for him and his family, featured a photo of a smiling Bauman, displaying the clip-on name tag held aside for him for more than 14 months, with two colleagues named Mike and Maya.

Bauman, who is standing in the photo, holds onto a single forearm crutch, a vast improvement from the days he pulled himself from a wheelchair to begin learning how to walk with prosthetic legs.

Bauman was in a wheelchair when, about two months after the bombings, he went to visit his Costco co-workers and catch up with everyone. Then, as the first anniversary of the bombings approached, Bauman walked back into the store to sign copies of his newly released memoir, “Stronger,” a gripping account written with Bret Witter that critics and reviewers roundly praised.

Bauman, 28, a resident of Chelmsford, Mass., who has family in Concord, is engaged to Erin Hurley. The couple are expecting a child next month.

A Costco spokesman said Friday that Bauman had been in but had finished his shift for the day.

The Facebook page also recognizes Carlos Arredondo, the bystander wearing a cowboy hat who is called “Jeff’s guardian angel” by Bauman’s family for jumping a barrier and rushing to Bauman’s side seconds after the explosions.

Arredondo, a peace activist who was at the marathon handing out American flags, is a study in perseverance himself: He’s an immigrant who became a U.S. citizen, and lost both of his sons – one, a U.S. Marine, was killed in Iraq in 2004, and the other took his own life in 2011.

Bauman’s family wrote on the Facebook page that when Arredondo reached Bauman, he “put out the flames consuming Jeff’s clothing, using his bare hands … ripped a shirt apart and used it as tourniquets, then pinched an exposed artery … preventing (Bauman) from bleeding to death.”

The official fund set up in the wake of the bombings to assist Bauman and his family continues to accept contributions. Pledges can be made to the Jeffrey Michael Bauman Foundation at Enterprise Bank, 185 Littleton Road, Chelmsford, MA 01824, or by mailing them to Jen Maybury, P.O. Box 261, Chelmsford.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6443 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Shalhoup on Twitter (@Telegraph_DeanS).